One of them is The Greatest Direct Mail Sales Letters of All Time. In it, he poured over thousands of the most effective direct mail letters ever written and classified the motivators used to get industry-best results. Then he ranked them all until he settled on the top 100.
Your Web page, your email marketing content, your paid ad all have a lot in common with an old-school direct mail sales letter. they are direct, person-to-person communications whose primary objective is to get people to respond. They need emotional triggers to do that.
For more than 20 years now, ever since I became known for consistently producing breakthrough direct mail packages, my phone has never stopped ringing and my schedule has been booked for years in advance by clients willing and, in some cases eager, to share the extra profits my copy would create for them.
So, until my recent retirement, my standard, nonnegotiable charge for more than 20 years has been a $25,000 upfront, nonrefundable advance against future royalties of five cents for each direct mail package mailed.
Moreover, for major mailers whose revenues depend so heavily on a successful direct mail package, neither the $25,000 nor the royalties were ever a deterrent if I could consistently deliver success, which I and they both knew I could, mainly due to the unique power I demonstrated with The Bencivenga Persuasion EquationÂ, which yields such remarkably consistent success.
In good times, when companies are flush, you will be showered with money, perks, and trinkets. In some Wall Street firms, for example, year-end bonuses for top salespeople run into the tens of millions of dollars.
While digital marketing has a far broader audience reach and is way more cost-efficient than traditional direct marketing, businesses should never dismiss the latter as an obsolete means of client communication. Because of technology, personalized mail printing by the bulk is now possible, so companies are spared from spending too much time and effort in customizing their promotional materials.
The bottom Line: Direct mail advertising companies in the US generated $9.47 billion in revenue in 2020. All these prove that not only is direct marketing effective in generating revenue, but it is also a lucrative business in its own right.
Did your long-time customer reach a certain tier/level in a loyalty/rewards program? Consider sending them a celebratory greeting card applauding their accomplishment. Did they just renovate their kitchen and now get kitchen-/home-related mailers? What if you created a dinner plate that could be popped out of a postcard? Something that is interactive and helps your customers understand that you hope your brand remains part of their life. And that you might just have the solution for whatever comes next.
However you decide to engage (or reengage) with your demographic, you want to reach out to them and not smother them. The bottom line, show your customers the way their direct mail was personalized and that their interaction meant something to your company as well.
The Ultimate Sales Letter. Dan Kennedy. 1997. Perhaps the best introduction to direct response copywriting available. The Ultimate Sales Letter dissects a sales letter then shows you how to write a basic sales letter. The headline templates alone are worth the price of admission and I still use them. A great book for the nascent copywriter ... and the more experienced copywriter. The lesson I took away: a direct response copywriter is a salesman, not a writer. It's also an inexpensive way to get plenty of great advice from Dan Kennedy.
Bencivenga Bullets. Gary Bencivenga. Not technically a book although, hopefully, a publisher will put them in a book one day. Bencivenga Bullets are, essentially, a series of 29 blogs about direct marketing, direct response copywriting, and general advice about life. All this comes from one of the greatest direct response copywriters of any era. And all the content is totally free. Bencivenga bullets should be mandatory reading for every MBA candidate and every direct response copywriter must read them and know them at a professorial level. Bencivenga didn't have to write these but fortunately, we have them. You can read them here. The content is super-rich ... he covers so much in just 29 blogs. And these are high-level techniques based on his success and testing.
Open Me Now. Direct Mail Envelopes That Work ... And Those That Don't. Herschell Gordon Lewis. 2006. One of numerous superb books by the wonderful HGL. Last year, I had the pleasure of having lunch with the great man at the AWAI bootcamp. Open Me Now is a highly specialized book about a vital and often ignored copy element: the copy on the envelope. Of course, the book is also about email subject lines. It's a vital book for all direct mail copywriters and all direct response copywriters who write emails.
How to Write Sales Letters That Sell. Drayton Bird. 1994. I've seen Drayton Bird speak and follow him on LinkedIn. In fact, I met him in person ... a big thrill for this direct response copywriter. In this excellent book, Bird is extremely direct and pulls no punches. The subhead is "Learn the Secrets of Successful Direct Mail" and that's exactly what you get. You can take Bird's techniques and apply them to other platforms. The book works for beginners and veterans. I especially liked the advice to copywriters about approaching potential clients. In fact, I have used the exact words he recommends ... and they work! The book also includes examples of successful copy. Every direct response copywriter should read this book. I also enjoyed the hard-core syntactical advice. Bird writes clearly and without any boasting ... even though he's one of the most-admired copywriters of all time. Everyone in direct response marketing should read this book.
My Life in Advertising. Claude C. Hopkins. 1927 (ish). Available as a "double" with Scientific Advertising, My Life is Advertising buttresses Scientific Advertising. The latter is pure theory, but My Life is Advertising reveals how Hopkins put his theories into practice. It's a book about advertising, yes, but it's also a powerful guidebook to business success. Hopkins discusses his successes and failures in advertising then he describes how he eventually made big-time money in business. Curiously, Hopkins avoided predictability when it came to his clients. He worked for some bizarre people who were on the verge of total ruin. There was nothing linear about the journey Hopkins took in his career and you can see this in the careers of many people in direct marketing. My Life in Advertising is one of the more curious marketing and business books and it's a must for every direct response copywriter. Toward the end of the book, Hopkins even gets a little personal, revealing his true motivations.
Tested Advertising Methods. John Caples. 1997? The inside cover says 1997 but I think this book appeared much earlier. It's irrelevant. This book is one of the most important in direct marketing and direct response copywriting. David Ogilvy says it best in the foreword: everything in this book is based on actual measured results. This book works well for direct marketers but it's even better for direct response copywriters. The headline formula Caples reveals is one of the most powerful and it works almost every time for me. Caples bashes "creative" advertising and lauds pure direct response. It's no surprise that all the great copywriters cite Caples and this book as among the most important in their library. I especially liked the "enthusiasm" chapter but every chapter is worth reading over and over. Gary Bencivenga says ... if you're not reading Caples, that's marketing malpractice. Extremely true. It's also a book that gets me really fired up about copywriting.
The Advertising Solution. Craig Simpson and Brian Kurtz. 2016. A great book for direct response copywriters and direct marketers. I hate it when I see books or hear presentations from so-called 'experts' who haven't stepped foot on the direct marketing battlefield. I know Brian and I know of Craig and they have been in the wars for several decades. They have generated tens of millions in revenue. Their new book profiles and condenses the wisdom of six highly successful direct marketers: Robert Collier, Claude Hopkins, John Caples, David Ogilvy, Gary Halbert, and Eugene Schwartz. These marketers are among the most successful direct marketers based on actual results. I highly recommend that every direct response copywriter read EVERYTHING by the marketers above but The Advertising Solution provides an introduction to these marketers for newcomers to direct marketing. It also provides essential reading for seasoned direct marketers who need fresh ideas based on proven techniques. I found the summary of the work of Eugene Schwartz especially valuable as his book, Breakthrough Advertising, is a difficult one to digest. So any help there is extremely useful and welcome. The Advertising Solution is well written and clear, as I'd expect from the publisher, Entrepreneur Press. The semanticist in me has a hard time with all the split infinitives, but if you're like me when it comes to those, you've been warned. But that's being slightly silly on my part. I wish they had written a stronger title, which I'd love to improve one day. Again ... I'm being picky. But it's a superb book and already one of my favorite direct marketing tomes. A lot of direct marketers and direct response copywriters will read this book but I hope people outside our crazy industry will read it so they understand direct response principles. A must read.
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